Loneliness Roams
by reginassthief
Summary: Original Idea. Zombie Apocalypse Au. Outlaw Queen. When a zombie apocalypse happens, Regina and Robin work together to find the one thing that means the world to Regina. Angsty. A lot of warnings for the future of this fic. (see A World So Cold for the one-shot version)
1. Chapter One

He shouldn't be surprised when he walks through the door to find his four year old son asleep on the couch- alone.

Robin just sighs, throws his house keys down on the coffee table and spies a note propped up against a used mug. He doesn't need to read it, knows what it says already, something along the lines of: _I'm sorry I couldn't watch him for the whole three hours. Something came up. I will next time, though. Ruby._ So instead, Robin just picks up the piece of paper and scrunches it up into a ball, launching it into the trash where it lands clean in.

He plops down onto the leather couch and rakes his hand through his hair, his arm pulsing with ache from pouring pints and switching barrels. So he sighs once more, lets his arm drop onto the arm of the sofa and gives a glance at his son.

He should probably move him, this couch doesn't make the most comfortable of beds- Robin knows. Yet Robin is also loath to disturb Roland's sleep, and Robin's thankful for the peace.

He loves his son, more than anything in the world, would never let anything happen to him, no harm come to him, but as any parent does, Robin craves for that alone time, when his child goes to bed and he can just relax and unwind.

Those nights have been few and far between recently.

And there's the case of his aching arms. Roland's not particularly heavy to carry him but just the thought of lifting him up and carrying him (even if it is just a few steps across the hall) has his arms seemingly aching even more.

But still, does it come under some kind of neglect if Robin just leaves him here for the night? Not to mention the countless cupboards and drawers that don't have child locks on them simply because Robin ran out of them and haven't got around to buying more, and it won't be the first time Roland's been caught in cupboards he shouldn't be in. So, no, maybe leaving his son sleeping in the living room isn't the best suggestion.

So, with a grunt, Robin pushes himself off the couch and picks Roland up. The boy squirms slightly but doesn't wake (thank God) and, ignoring the screaming of his arms, Robin carries his son to his monkey-themed bedroom and places him down on his bed, covering him with the monkey-themed duvet before picking Monkey off the floor and tucking him in beside Roland.

He stays with his son for a few more minutes, makes sure that Roland doesn't unexpectedly wake up. When it seems enough time has passed, that Roland isn't likely to be suddenly alive and awake, Robin kisses his curls and leaves, making his way through the hall and back to the couch.

There's a ringing in the background, a vibration, and a tune. All going off. All pulling him out of his sleep.

Robin opens his eyes, still clouded from sleep, and blinks a few times, listens to the instant sound of what he theories is his phone ringing before he stretches, hears that familiar sound of his back clicking, and sits up, reaching over to grab his phone.

He doesn't remember what time he fell asleep, but judging by the nine missed calls and five messages left by one person, he guesses it's been a while.

Still, he wonders why John has left him so many messages. Half of the time, John doesn't have a phone, and the other half? Well, he barely uses it anyway.

Frowning, Robin presses the call back button, brings the phone to his ear and listens to the ringing noise, his lip between his teeth.

It takes two rings for John to answer. Two rings. It usually takes three calls.

"Where the hell have you been? Do you have any idea what's going on? Where's Roland? You need to get him out of here now. I'm on my way-"

"John?" Robin asks, getting no reply. He tries again, "John?" Still nothing.

Robin brings the phone away from his ear, his mind racing with the questions John asked him. _Do you have any idea what's going on?_ As far as Robin was concerned nothing was going on, yet from how abrupt the call ended and the panic that was clearly heard in his friend's voice stated that there was indeed something going on that Robin wasn't aware of.

He places his phone down, his mind running with thoughts of what could be happening, one thought even going as far as theorising a terrorist attack.

Robin fishes for the TV remote, pulls it from its wedged place down the side of the couch and switches on the TV, getting, what it seems, is the next of a news report.

"...citizens have been advised to stay in their homes…"

Robin flicks through, finding the channel that replays missed news reports.

He jumps in his seat, unexpectedly as a bang is heard nearby and a swarm of police and ambulance cars race past the window.

 _What the hell is going on?_

And he finds it. Finds the news channel, his heart in his throat as he listens to the man talking.

"There's been an outbreak. An infection leaked from the City General Hospital. _Citizens are advised to stay in their homes_."

Robin's eyes are glued to the TV. A man in the background telling them they need to move, need to get away from the area, before there's the bang from earlier, the gas station behind them erupts in flames, people going flying in all sorts of direction and the signal is lost.

 _What the hell is going on?_

She's been on alert all evening, head shooting up at the slightest sound, eyes darting around for any sign of him.

It's seems your brain plays tricks on you when you something's missing. Every noise sounds like the door opening, every creak sounds like he's walking around upstairs but when she goes to check, all she's met with is the feeling of worry and disappointment.

She's gone more insane by the hour.

More filled with dread.

Henry.

Her little prince hasn't came home, hasn't came crashing through the door, hadn't run upstairs itching to play his video games. None of that had happened.

Instead she was met with silence. And a closed door.

At first she thought that maybe he'd stayed at school for an hour; sometimes he stayed behind for book club, it never had a set day- something that greatly irritated Regina. But that hour turned to two, then three, then four. Which brings her to now: 8 hours later and Regina's left worrying with a house that wants to play games.

He's ran away.

She realised that hours ago, didn't want to admit it. Her relationship with her son went downhill ever since his teacher slipped to him that he was adopted. Idiot! Regina could have swung for the woman once she found out, through tears and cries of _you're not my real mom,_ that it was she who told him.

Regina had planned telling him when he was older, at an age where his mind wasn't as wild. Seems like this woman beat her to it.

That's why he'd ran away.

Along with the screams of, _you're not my real mom_ there were also screams of, _you never really loved me. You never could._ Even then, even _now_ Regina could laugh at the irony of it, how a little boy could think that a woman who _abandoned_ him could love him more than she. It was completely ridiculous.

She was stuck in limbo. Unsure whether to stay here and wait for him (any moment he could walk through that door) or forget the 24 hour missing rule and go to the police station and demand they find her son…

She feels sick at this point; sick with worry, fear. Feels it all swirling around in her stomach. She wants nothing more than this nightmare to be over, nothing more than for Henry to come running through that door, aplogise for all he said, for running off…

Her body jumps when a bang sounds from somewhere near by. She stands up from her seat on the couch, the feeling of uncertainty beginning to form, heightened so when a blast of sirens and flashing lights fly past her window, headed in the direction of the gas station.

 _It's nothing, probably just a gas leak or something. They'll sort it out._

She sits back down, pushes down the new wave of uneasiness she feels. She's got bigger things to worry about, Henry for starters and focus' all her senses on the front door.

Though, she's still unable to shake the feeling that something is wrong.


	2. Chapter Two

**Lol. Because it's not every day you get a next day update. Don't get used to it. This only exists because I couldn't sleep last night. It probably makes no sense and its unbeta'd, don't blame me. Anyway, here you go.**

Robin's mind is racing. The TV's still flickering white and grey lights in front of him, the signal lost ages ago. He isn't paying attention to anything, his brain just replaying the words; _'Do you know what's happened?', 'There's been an outbreak.'_ What did they even mean by outbreak? And those people...the news reporter, the crew members, the workers...they were all in the explosion. Are they okay?

He jumps when he hears a fist banging on the door, sounding ready to tear the door off its hinges. Robin's head swoops in the direction of his son's bedroom, his son who's still asleep, his son who has no idea what's happening.

Someone's still pounding on the door, any moment and they're going to wake Roland up, but...Robin's unsure. An outbreak could mean anything, the person on the other side of the door could be anyone. Should Robin really risk it?

He doesn't have to ponder anymore. The sound of John's voice shoots through the door. "Robin! Robin, it's me. Open the door, man."

Robin scrambles from his seat on the couch, toe nearly stubbing the leg of the coffee table in his haste to open the door. When he pulls back the gold chain and unlocks the door, John's wasting no time barging in.

"Where's Roland?" his friend says, eyes scanning the room. "Did you see what happened? Whole town's gone to chaos."

In the light Robin can see it. Sees the burn and what looks like scratch marks on John's arm.

"What happened?" Robin asks.

John sighs, falling down onto the couch. Robin stays standing, moving away from the door, a little further into the room as John closes his eyes, slows down his breathing enough to speak in something other than rushed words and puffs.

"It's crazy. Everything's either on fire or smashed. And the people…" John brings his hands together, thumb rubbing against his middle finger, his focus the movement. "Running here, there, and everywhere. And there's some…" he shakes his head, pulling his gaze from his finger to Robin. A shock clouds his friend's face. Shock and fear, it's all sinking in now it seems and Robin listens, holds onto every word. "Some have already been infected. They're like animals. Come running from nowhere and just jump on you." He shifts and moves his arm, finger pointing to the angry red scratch marks. "I got this on the way here. Jimmy Cooper who lives across from mine, jumped on me when I was running up the road, nearly tore my arm off."

Robin hears his heart begin to beat faster. Whatever this outbreak is, it's turning people crazy, turning them into animals, into monsters. He needed to get out of here.

"Has it reached here?" Robin asks, eyes glancing towards Roland's room.

"I don't think so."

The moment the words leave John's mouth, there's a smash that sounds from a few doors down. Both Robin and John's eyes flick to the door as a growl, or something similar to it, is heard.

"Shit." John says, standing up. "That spread quickly. Where's Roland?"

"In...in bed, asleep." Robin stutters, panic beginning to properly seize him now.

"You need to wake him up. We all need to get out of here."

Instantly, Robin's nodding, already on his way over to Roland's bedroom as another growl-like-thing is heard again, sending shivers down Robin's spine as he hopes, with little faith, that this outbreak stays contained in one space for a little longer.

...:...:...

Her fingers hit the buttons on the house phone furiously. She's pressed every button and nothing. There's no beeping. No calling. No answering. Nothing. The lines dead.

Huffing, she slams the phone back into its hold a little too hard but she can't bring herself to care.

After sitting there for another half an hour or so, she decided to call the police yet when she picked up the phone and tried to call, there was nothing. Nothing on the other side.

Henry still wasn't back yet. Her baby had been gone for 9 hours and she'd done nothing!

Regina sighs, falling back onto the couch. As she sits, she feels something digging into her. Frowning, she fishes for the object, getting hold of what is...her phone. Regina rolls her eyes at her stupidity. She doesn't need a house phone, she has this.

Yet she frowns again. There's no signal here, either.

 _Must be something to do with the line._

It has played up in the past. But why does it choose now not to work?

Regina guesses she could just walk up to the police station. It'll take longer, sure but...she can't sit around doing nothing. She's spent too time sitting around, doing nothing.

She stands up and walks two steps at the most and the lights cut out and Regina is cloaked in darkness.

 _What is going on?_

She thinks back to the bang. To the anxiety she felt and pushed down. The phone signals being down and now this…

She's unsure what to do. Feels herself frozen where she is.

Regina's never been scared of the dark. Even as a child it hadn't bothered her like most her age at the time. Yet standing here now does she realise how dark and quiet is truly is. There's usually traffic going past, shouts being heard from somewhere a bit away but it's just silent. Dark and silent. Nothing since the sirens and the bang. Nothing but a dead phone line…

She jumps again- that's all she's done all evening. How many jerks can a body withstand?- at the sound of glass breaking. Her stomach turns as her breathing deepens, heart beginning to hammer against her chest as that anxiety twists into fear.

She manages to become unstuck from her spot and slowly begins to walk towards the sound of the noise.

It only occurs to her as she reaches the doorway to her kitchen that she should have grabbed something to protect herself with. She rethinks the idea, head turning back towards the living room as her eyes span for something to grab then she hears it. A gargled noise of some sort and heavy breathing. Someone had definitely entered her house and it definitely was Henry- Henry wouldn't break through the back door.

She pads closer, rounding that corner when she sees him. A man- James Cooper perhaps who lives a few doors down- crouched over, work clothes askew and palms leaning against knees.

He looks in pain, Regina thinks. Perhaps she should help him. But her eyes flick to her broken back door, the shards of glass that still remain to the panes but the large majority of it on the floor.

Maybe he's drunk or something. Would explain the heaving noise she heard before. His position. The fact that he's broken into her house.

Cooper heaves again and Regina's eyes float down. She almost throws up herself when she sees what he's littering her kitchen floor with. This wasn't us usual vomit. It's blood and guts and what other insides can be thrown up.

She pushes her own vomit down, however. The man clearly needed help. So cautiously, she steps forward. "M-mr Cooper?"

Her voice is tentative. Quiet. But he hears her. The man stops breathing heavily. He pauses and Regina waits. Shivers as a light wind swirls it's way through the hole in her door.

Whether it was the breeze or Regina shivering, she doesn't actually know. The man unfreezes. Still in his crouched position, only his eyes move and she sees them.

Bloodshot black eyes staring right at her. Locked onto her. He became a predator, and she was his prey.

She manages to dive out of the way just as he inhumanly jumps towards her, slamming her back against the wall and briefly feeling the wind being knocked out of her.

Cooper was never really an active man. Never would he have ever been able to do a jump like that. Never would anyone be able to do a jump like that.

Regina barely has time to recover before he man...animal...whatever he's become rises again. His head whips in her direction, like he can smell her or something, and despite wanting nothing more than to just curl up into a ball and wish the whole thing over, she darts from her spot and runs towards the front door.

Behind her, she hears a growl and it turns her blood cold as she slams the front door, still running down her lawn into the blackened, quiet street.

It isn't until she knows she as far away as possible does she slow down. Begins to process all of it. Her side hurts painfully, a stitch probably forming, each breath sending pain ricocheting through that area.

Whatever was wrong with the man, it wasn't drunk that was for sure. But there was definitely something wrong with him. Regina wished she'd knew more. All she knew is that the man who she often passed in the mornings, the man who offered her friendly morning greetings wasn't the same man that was currently occupying her house. He was like some sort of...zombie.

No! That's impossible. Zombies aren't real. Henry often talked about zombie apocalypses, said how awesome it would be to have one, to be a hero and save everyone.

She leans against the wall, in her haste to get out of the house, she'd forgotten about her missing son.

Her eyes wander to the sky, to the stars that glisten as she hopes that whatever is wrong with James Cooper is a one off and that her little prince is at least safe.


	3. Chapter Three

**AN: Hey, guys. So I don't know how to drive and I was using Google and I don't even know if I've done it right with even with the use of that, but yeah, here's chapter three. I also suck at writing 'actions' scenes. Makes you wonder why I'm even writing this, doesn't it? Well, we can all try. Hope you like it anyway :)**

"Daddy, where are we going?" Roland asks as Robin helps him climb into the car.

"Where going on a road trip." Robin answers. He buckles Roland's seat belt as the boy gives him a questionable look. Roland doesn't say anything and neither does Robin, so Robin shuts the car door and makes his way to the driver's side.

The moment he's in, his foot is on the accelerator. He wants to get out of here. Wants to get out of this town, somewhere safe. This place is giving him the creeps.

They'd made it out of his apartment alright. Nothing had jumped out at them; there were no more noises. Still, that didn't mean those things couldn't happen. If he had to be honest, Robin was still feeling shivers from that growl noise he'd heard just before he went into his son's room and while there hadn't been anymore, while nothing had attacked them, it didn't mean they were safe.

"They do know how this happened?" Robin asks, keeping his voice low so Roland doesn't hear it.

"I don't think they found out. All they know is it came from the hospital." says John. He keeps his eyes trained on the area around them. It's dark, the only light coming from the car and Robin doesn't like it. There's usually streetlights along this way but all power lines must be down. Or broken.

Robin glances into the mirror, looks to where Roland is sitting and sees his eyes drooping closed, head falling limb, and his grip around Monkey becoming relaxed. God, why is this happening? Robin wants nothing more than to hit his head against the wheel, maybe then he'll wake up and this will all just be some twisted nightmare. His son will be asleep in his room and Robin would have fallen asleep in front of some thriller.

"Keep driving." he hears John say and Robin looks out the window, sees people- a family- waving and jumping on the side of the road, signalling them to stop and Robin nearly does until John's voice cuts through.

"Leave them."

"They have a kid."

"So do we."

So Robin drives past, as he does, he catches a glance at the kid- a boy no older than Roland- and his heart sinks, guilt twisting in his stomach.

"We should turn back." Robin says but John is persistent.

"And get us killed? I know how you feel but someone else will come along soon."

Robin nods, pushes it from his mind. It doesn't go all the way, just to the back but that's enough. John is right, someone will be along soon, he's got to think of Roland and what's best for him, three more people will just slow them down.

They continue along the road, headed in the direction of the highway- they're best bet right now.

"Has this... _thing_ spread to any other states?" He'd been thinking this for a while. What was the point in leaving if they weren't going to leave the problem?

"I don't think so. They said it originated here. It won't reach the other states until someone who's infected leaves and spreads it-...What the fuck?"

Robin groans. He should have seen this coming! A traffic jam stems miles down the road as cars pull in from all different directions. Beeps and horns and shouting emerges from drivers as they all wonder what the hell is going on.

"Looks like everyone had the same idea." Robin says as they watch and wait for something to happen.

"Definitely." John mumbles.

"What the fuck, man? Why ain't you moving?"

They watch as a man from the car in front of them steps out, arms waving around in a huff as he tries to see what's going on.

"Maybe we can backtrack," says Robin, his foot resting on the break, ready to reverse. "Go another-...Holy shit!"

They look to see a man throw himself towards the other man who just got out of the car, ramming him into the side door and throwing him on the ground, beginning to beat the shit out of him as his companion climbs into the car and begins to, what looks like, also beat the crap out of a person in there.

"Go, go, go!" John screams and Robin's slamming his foot against the break, setting the car in reverse and moving.

"The fuck is happening to these people?" Robin asks, breathing hard and trying to slow his heart rate down. The heck had he just witnessed?

"That's the least of it." says John and Robin wonders what else this 'outbreak' has in store for them.

…:...:...

She'd been wandering aimlessly since the near attack, arms tightly wrapped around in her vain as she tries to ward off the cold, wishing in her haste to escape she'd grabbed a coat or something.

Regina was still reeling off what happened, her mind trying to piece everything together.

Leaning against the wall, her feet aching, she thinks of what happened, of all the stories Henry used to read then tell her about. Ones of zombie apocalypses and how it all came down to survival of the fittest. But they were just stories, just made up fiction meant to scare people. It couldn't be real, could it?

Yet she's going back to the house break in, her neighbour's mannerisms, all the things Henry's told her about zombies and what they do...She shivers and not because of the cold, either, her eyes scanning the darkness. No streetlights were on, no cell signal, no power lines, nothing…

She breathes, her breath visible in the air as she pulls her arms tighter around herself, nausea beginning to swirl. If one person was...like _that_ how many others were?

Regina sighs. She wished she knew more, to be honest, wished she had Henry with her, safe. He was out there somewhere, could be in the midst of it all, could be...hurt or dead or anything, who knew what these _things_ could do.

Oh, why did he have to chose today to run away? Why did he have to run away at all? He was happy with her. _They_ were happy. He didn't know he was adopted, of course, but she was working up to that, planning it out, planning how to tell him. Until that bitch teacher had to 'unknowingly' ruin it all. Ugh!

She kicks the empty trash can beside her, watches it all onto the floor with a crash and roll into a nearby bush.

Why did any of this have to happen today-

An explosion sounds somewhere close- it's noise sending a ringing sensation through Regina's ears, as her hand reaches out to the wall and she shuts her eyes.

She can smell fire and the ringing in her ears hasn't stopped and she coughs and opens her eyes, soot and dust surrounding her. The fire's close by, she can feel it's heat and as she turns her head, she sees it; the trees that blocked the view of the town have fallen down, all on fire and spreading, caused by another gas station explosion.

She needs the leave before the fire traps her, but her ears are ringing and head throbbing off the blast. The smoke clouds her view as her hand grips along the brick wall, pulling her along. Somewhere in the midst of ringing she can hear voices and cars. People. Normal people, hopefully. People who can help her get out of here and find her son. People who might care just enough.


End file.
